


The Gifted One

by Hibari1_san



Series: SASO 2017 : Bonus Round 1 [3]
Category: Prince of Stride: Alternative (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-10
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-12 14:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11164047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hibari1_san/pseuds/Hibari1_san
Summary: "Prompt: The name on everyone's lips is Tomoe. And while Tomoe might be the brightest light around, Riku isn't ready to fade into his shadow."





	The Gifted One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nobetterpicture](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobetterpicture/gifts).



> Major Tags: None  
> Other Tags: None (Maybe Riku being bitter ?)

Riku knew that his brother had a gift. He was painfully well aware of that fact. He _lived_ with the guy for Christ sake. He could see with his own two eyes the wonders he could do, be it making objects levitate or starting up a fire with just _literally_ a snap of his fingers.   
And even he didn’t, their parents would make sure he remembered that fact. It was always “Tomoe this” and “Tomoe that” and frankly, as the less talented of the two, Riku was starting to feel incredibly… _angry_ at his brother. And he didn’t even understand _why_. It was a bit irrational after all. Tomoe had been nothing but caring and supportive but as time went by, the sense of inferiority whenever he was reminded of how less he was compared to his oh-so-wonderful brother, Riku’s admiration slowly turned to jealousy, and in the end, in hate. He was getting sick of hearing people praising his brother right and left because to him it always sounded like they didn’t understand why Riku couldn’t do the same things.   
  
And honestly, he was starting to wonder as well.   
  
After all, Tomoe was _four_ when his magic started manifesting itself. The average was seven. Riku himself had manifested at six. By that time, his brother had already mastered all of the basic spells. At ten, he had won his first magic tournament. He was so talented, it was like magic came as naturally to him as breathing. He had even been scouted by a prestigious magic school in America. Their parents were ecstatic. Countless leaflets could be spotted around the house be it about the school itself or the area it was in thought a school representative had already come by to explain everything there was to know and answer all of their questions. Their parents _were_ about to send one of their son at the other end of the globe. Riku envied him a lot. He knew he was doing better than the others who were his age but he wasn’t _Tomoe-talented_. He claimed that it was just because he had manifested earlier and that he spent a lot of time studying and trying out spells but there came a point beyond which no cramming could take you. And he had gotten there when he had started using spells without needing to utter them aloud. It was still a very rare occurrence, even in this magic world. The worst was that the first time it had happened had been _on accident_. And in front of his entire school. It was supposed to be part of the school play. It was supposed to be pure _pretend_. The public was supposed to be laughing at the character’s futile and ridiculous attempt at turning off the lights with just a snap of his fingers. Instead of that, darkness effectively dawned on the room. After a few minutes of pure confusion and reproaches yelled, it had seemed obvious that the culprit had indeed been Tomoe.  
  
Riku had had to leave the school altogether, not being able to support all of the praises Tomoe was being showered with. This night, he has been scrolling on the Internet, feeling miserable, when he had seen an article around a theory that had been getting popular among the scientists who did research in the magical field.   
  
_Names_.  
  
Apparently, according to their names, people had affinities with different magic fields. Riku thought about it. The character for his brother name _did_ refer to a perfectly symmetrical round of symbol which were, as the article said, the most powerful kind. And he even got a bonus because it wasn’t of current use anymore in Japanese. _Riku_ ’s on the contrary, wasn’t common per say but it was still of use. However, the fact that the pronunciation was unusual certainly meant that he would still get an advantage on others. And his affinity lied with the land.  
  
Well, if he believed in that kind of things that is.  
  
But, just in case, he was willing to try it.  
  
In less than ten minutes, he had sneaked out of the house and was in their backyard.   
  
_Land, they had said. That means earth is fine, right ?_  
  
Riku crouched down and pressed his right hand flat against the grass. Closing his eyes, he thought hard about the most basic and easiest spell involving earth he could think of. And there, he could feel it : raw energy coming from the earth under his palm. In the instant he took to marvel at the feeling, it was gone. He frowned and tried focusing again but it seemed like he had already been drained from all of his energy.  
  
 _Too young_ , he instantly thought.  
  
At just age twelve, his powers hadn’t fully developed yet. He would have to _wait_. To _practice_.   
  
And someday... one day....  
  
Riku smiled.  
  
He would be able to go against Tomoe in a battle of magic.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading ! I hope you enjoyed it :3
> 
> This fic is crossposted on Dreamwidth.


End file.
